Sunday's Sports in Brief

Here's a look at Sunday's sports in brief around the country.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — CC Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and Ryan Braun hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, leading the Milwaukee Brewers over the Chicago Cubs 3-1 Sunday and into the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

The Brewers, who fired manager Ned Yost with only two weeks left to go, won the NL wild card less than a half-hour later when the New York Mets lost to Florida 4-2. Milwaukee (90-72) and New York (89-73) went into the final day of the regular season tied.

The Brewers will face Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs. The NL Central champion Cubs will play the Los Angeles Dodgers,

Sabathia (11-2) pitched his NL-leading seventh complete game — those came in just 17 starts after the Brewers got the big lefty in July from Cleveland. The only run he allowed was unearned after an error by first baseman Prince Fielder, and he finished with a 1.65 ERA for the Brewers.

The Brewers couldn’t get much going offensively until Braun’s towering two-run homer off Bob Howry (7-5) broke a 1-all tie.

NEW YORK (AP) — Scott Schoeneweis and Luis Ayala served up back-to-back homers in the eighth inning that put the Marlins ahead, and the Mets missed the playoffs after another September slide and a loss in the final game at Shea Stadium.

It was an eerily similar scenario to last year, when New York lost at home to Florida on the final day of season, ending their playoff hopes.

Pinch-hitter Wes Helms homered off Schoeneweis (2-6) to start the eighth, snapping a 2-all tie. Dan Uggla connected against Ayala.

Joe Nelson (3-1) struck out two in a perfect seventh and Matt Lindstrom earned his fifth save.

Missing injured closer Billy Wagner for the final two months, the Mets finished with 29 blown saves, including 16 since the All-Star break — most in the National League, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

NFL

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Brett Favre threw a career-high and Jets-record six touchdown passes, three to Laveranues Coles, and New York took advantage of mistakes by Arizona in a big second quarter of a 56-35 victory Sunday.

Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin was carted off the field after a scary helmet-to-helmet collision with Eric Smith in the end zone with 27 seconds remaining. Boldin was moving all his extremities on the field and was talking to his teammates coming off the field and going into the locker room. He was being taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons.

New York’s defense forced three fumbles and two interceptions in the first half and the Jets (2-2) set a franchise record by scoring 34 points in the second quarter.

Favre, showing no signs of a left ankle injury that hobbled him during the week, finished 24-for-34 for 289 yards. Coles had eight catches for 105 yards and Jerricho Cotchery had two touchdown catches as the Jets scored the second-most points in franchise history.

Warner tried to bring the Cardinals (2-2) back in the second half as Arizona scored 35 points. Warner, 40-of-57 for 472 yards, threw a 14-yard TD pass to Jerheme Urban with 4:49 left, but lost the ball again on a fumble with less than 3 minutes left.

Favre hit Dustin Keller for a 24-yard touchdown and a 2-point conversion with 1:54 remaining to seal it.

Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald had eight catches in his 64th career game, making him the third-fastest to 350.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Jason Campbell threw two touchdown passes and Clinton Portis ran for 121 yards to knock the Cowboys from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Washington (3-1) won for only the second time in its last 13 visits to Texas Stadium. With Dallas moving to a different suburb next season, this was the Redskins’ last visit to a place that rarely treated them well. Thus, unless Washington returns for a playoff game, new coach Jim Zorn will have the unique distinction of being undefeated here.

More importantly, the Redskins proved the two-game winning streak they brought in wasn’t just a byproduct of playing bad teams. They’re legit, and that means the NFC East — already the best division in the NFL — is now a four-way race.

Zorn had to sweat it out, though. After Washington went up 26-17 with 3:22 left, Tony Romo marched Dallas 82 yards in eight plays, capping it with an 11-yard touchdown to Miles Austin. The Cowboys went for an onside kick and the ball came up high and catchable for receiver Sam Hurd, but he wasn’t able to hold it, losing the ball out of bounds.

GOLF

ATLANTA (AP) — Too far behind to do anything about the FedEx Cup, Camilo Villegas put together a stirring rally that was good enough to win the Tour Championship in a playoff over Sergio Garcia for his second straight victory.

Villegas overcame a five-shot deficit by making six birdies over his last 11 holes for a 4-under 66, then beat Garcia with a par in the playoff on the 233-yard 18th.

The 26-year-old Colombian, who had gone 85 starts on the PGA Tour without winning, picked up his second in a row on a sunny afternoon at East Lake.

He birdied the 17th hole from 12 feet to catch Garcia, then twice hit beautiful lag putts from outside 45 feet, once in regulation to finish at 7-under 273, then in the playoff to cap off his tour season in style.

Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson each shot 69, and each had a chance to join the playoff. Kim, playing in the second-to-last group with Villegas, missed from 30 feet. Mickelson’s 20-foot birdie putt stayed above the hole.

AUTO RACING

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson barely held off a strong challenge from Carl Edwards on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, winning the race and vaulting into first place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Edwards, who overcame a poor starting position and two pit lane incidents, to catch and pass Johnson for the lead, lost the top spot to Johnson on a pit stop with 47 laps to go. He finally caught him again on the last lap, shooting past Johnson on the low side of the banked 1.5-mile oval in turn three — but just a little too fast.

Edwards slid up the track and bounced off the wall as Johnson drove back past and on to his fifth victory of the season, with Edwards holding on for second.

Greg Biffle, who came into the third race of the 10-race Chase for the championship with two straight victories, followed the leaders across the finish line to stay close in the points.